Collector portrait

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Collector portrait - Fine Watch Club
2 minutes read
Vincent Luzuy is a young Swiss collector who caught the collecting bug at a young age. His passion for mechanical wizardry doesn’t stop with watches.

He started off by collecting champagne capsules, then he discovered fine dining, before moving on to watches and cars. When Vincent is not at the race track or on the ski slopes, he enjoys talking about watches, over a meal with friends.

Portrait de collectionneur

One watch anecdote he likes to tell concerns one of his grandfathers, who always wore his GMT Pepsi on the inside of his wrist, something that intrigues him to this day. “He liked his Pepsi with the bracelet just a little bit too big, which always seemed rather weird to me!” Vincent recalls. In the Luzuy family, watches are passed down from generation to generation. The Speedmaster passed from his grandfather to his father, and now both Vincent and his brother have their own. As the collector explains, a watch would be given as a confirmation or graduation gift, “generally marking the entry into adulthood.” His sister, however, opted for an IWC. Vincent received his first vintage watch to celebrate completing his military service, another landmark moment. Watch sellers Laurent and Stanislas Ponti, who are also Vincent’s friends, tracked down a reference 1680, the first Submariner with date. “As a student, I couldn’t afford to buy one myself, but I quickly understood the possibilities offered by trading, and making up the shortfall by saving up. I still do that today,” Vincent confides.

Portrait de collectionneur

The car fanatic and lover of iconic watches then set about acquiring a Royal Oak. His friend Stanislas found him a chronograph in white gold, the product of a recent trade. “I wear it almost every day and I never get tired of it.” Today Vincent, a recent graduate who is active in the car world, mainly wears his Speedmaster and his Royal Oak. But when he’s out on exercise with the army, he generally opts for his Seiko Prospex Diver Automatic Turtle. There’s a watch for every situation.

Portrait de collectionneur

Although, for most collectors, the point of collecting is to acquire watches, sharing their enthusiasm is also an important element. Meeting up with other enthusiasts is an essential and very rewarding part of it, and that generally happens at watch fairs and on social networks. “I remember when my friend, the collector Balthasar de Pury, showed me his Royal Air Force officers’ watches,” Vincent Luzuy recalls. “Each watch, like each car, has its own story, and that fascinates me.” Bringing watches to life by telling their stories and meeting other collectors is part of what makes collecting so enjoyable. “Meeting other people who share your interest is for me a unique experience,” Vincent Luzuy concludes.

Portrait de collectionneur

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